The effectiveness of the theoretical and practical activities of each scientist depends primarily on the citation of his work. This indicator also affects the ranking of universities in which they teach. On the territory of Russia and a number of post-Soviet countries, a special body operates - the Higher Attestation Commission (HAC). He gives the Ministry of Education and Science recommendations on the assignment of scientific degrees and degrees, as well as certification of periodicals.
More about VAK
VAK was created back in the USSR in 1932. The creation of a single body that would award academic degrees was caused by the need to increase the number of qualified and ideologically seasoned scientists. They were called upon to adequately evaluate dissertations. In Soviet times, the body often changed subordination. For some time it was headed by the Minister of Education. Then control over the work of the Commission was transferred to the Federal Service for Supervision of Education and Science.
Since 2011, the Higher Attestation Commission reports directly to the Ministry of Education and Science. Degrees are awarded only by order of the Minister. Now the role of the Higher Attestation Commission is reduced only to the issue of diplomas to candidates and doctors of sciences. Also, the commission assigns the title of professor and associate professor (in the specialty and in the department).
The HAC also makes a significant contribution to the formation of a list of peer-reviewed sources of scientific information. Periodical literature includes journals in which the results of dissertations and other scientific studies are printed. Basically, they are the fruits of the work of applicants for academic degrees of a candidate and a doctor of science. Thus, the HAC list of journals is formed.
Requirements for Scientific Publications
Work on the revision of the list of scientific publications was launched in 2014. Since then, the list of periodicals has changed more than 3 times. The Ministry of Education and Science receives many applications for the inclusion of scientific publications in the list of the Higher Attestation Commission. In order to exclude the passage of journals publishing unverified scientific research data, decisions were repeatedly made to review scientific publications.
Periodic scientific publications are subject to certain requirements. Only if all the criteria are met is inclusion of the journal in the list of journals included in the Higher Attestation Commission considered.
To date, they include 16 points. Here is some of them:
- the publication must be registered as a mass media outlet;
- the main content of the journal should be represented by scientific articles, reviews, reviews and reviews;
- at least 8 issues should be released per year;
- the publication must have an official website or page on the Internet on which basic information about it will be posted.
How is the inclusion of the journal in the VAK list
In order to include a scientific publication in the List, the editorial board must send a motivated petition addressed to the chairman of the Higher Attestation Commission. The last 2 issues should be attached to it, as well as a certain set of documents that confirms that the editors meet the list of criteria for inclusion of the publication in the list of scientific journals of the Higher Attestation Commission.
Also, an information card must be attached to the application, which indicates the full and short name of the scientific publication, subscription index, scientific direction, percentage of advertising, state registration number, etc.
Based on the decision made, a decision is made to include a scientific publication in the List. It is published not only on the website of the Higher Attestation Commission, but also in the Bulletin of the Ministry of Education and Science.
International Databases and Citation Indexes
An important criterion for the effectiveness of scientific activity of a higher educational institution is a number of scientometric indicators:
- hirsch index;
- impact factor in RSCI and international databases (Web of Science, Scopus);
- citation index.
It is worth considering that nuometric indicators are used when considering applications for funding as part of scientific grants and targeted programs. Thus, the effectiveness of the activity of scientific and pedagogical workers is evaluated.
List of editions of the Higher Attestation Commission
The scientific community is interested in the number of scientific publications in which it is possible to publish the results of studies for the doctoral degree and candidate. For example, graduate students need at least 3 articles. Doctoral applicants publish a minimum of 15 articles. Therefore, the list of scientific publications cannot include one and a half hundred journals, as was the case in 2014. Then the VAK list was noticeably reduced.
The new list (as of December 29, 2015) includes the following magazines:
- Academia. Architecture and construction.
- Acta Linguistica Petropolitana. Proceedings of the Institute of Linguistic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
- Advances in Law Studies.
- Alma mater (Bulletin of higher education).
- Cardiosomatics.
- CATHEDRA - CHAIR. Dental education.
- Consilium Medicum ("Medical Consultation").
- Dental Forum.
- Epistemology & Philosophy of Sciences (Epistemology and Philosophy of Science).
- European Social Science Journal.
A year later, Miobrnauka drew the attention of dissertation councils and scientific organizations to the fact that from July 1, 2015 all articles published in journals not included in the List will not be considered published in peer-reviewed publications. To inform the scientific community, the certification committee launched a web resource on which you can leave applications for inclusion of publications in the Higher Attestation Commission list, as well as information on the list of journals.
To date, the List includes 1,745 publications included in it in December 2015. The HAC also published a list of recommended peer-reviewed journals that are part of international databases. It includes 849 publications.
Upcoming changes
In addition, a letter on the List of peer-reviewed publications was posted on the website of the Higher Attestation Commission. It states that the list of magazines is not final and will be subject to revision in 2016. This is a clear obstacle to the publication of articles by researchers and dissertators. In this regard, in 2015, more than 1000 publications were included in the list. According to the staff of the Ministry of Education and Science, such a decision is hasty, therefore, during 2016 the List will be adjusted.
There are no more than 500 journals that fully comply with the requirements of the Higher Attestation Commission. As a result of this, many dissertators and researchers are in no hurry to publish and express serious concern in this regard.
Many scientists hope that the new list of HACs will not only meet the necessary requirements, but will also be more stable than previous versions.